my job and all its awesomeness (and a lot of pictures taken from my car)

I haven't written much about my new job. This is mostly because my job requires me to keep client information confidential, so I tend to err on the side of saying nothing about it to be safe. I don't even like to describe the types of clients I see. Even without identifying information, it's not a good idea. Anyway... Now that I've been at my job for about 8 months and have really settled in, I thought I'd write about it a little.

First of all, I really like it a lot. It's the perfect type of job for me. I get to work independently most of the time, but also have time to collaborate with colleagues. I set my own schedule and decide how many hours I want to work and what those hours are. I travel to clients' homes, which means I'm in my car a lot. I like this because I like alone time, I get to listen to NPR as I drive, and I often have a little down time between appointments to run an errand, stop at home, or just stop at the park for a few minutes.

I recently switched from a salaried position to a fee-for-service position. This gives me even more flexibility with my schedule, and I'm able to be home more without being paid less. It's quite a deal. I'm usually done with work early in the afternoon now, which gives me time to go home and take a walk or run, prepare dinner, garden, or do whatever else I need to before I pick up the kids. Amazing! Especially during the summer when I don't have to drive all the way to Celia's school, I'm going to have a lot more time. I'm much less stressed out with a little uninterrupted time to get things done a couple of days each week.

So, here is a typical work day.

5:30-6:00 Wake up, get dressed, and have coffee before the kids wake up. Essential. I also unload the dishwasher, get everyone's lunches out of the fridge and backpacks by the door, etc.
6:30-7:00 Get Celia and Henry up. Nurse Henry. Fix Celia's hair and get her dressed if she wants my help.
7:15 Leave for work. (I like to start early because it means I can be done earlier. I try to find clients who will take early morning visits.)

Stop for gas.

7:30 See my first client. (Did you notice the length of my commute? Fantastic.)

My office: Bag, water, cooler for lunch and pumped milk, pump, cardigan.

Client number 1.

8:30 Done with first client. Drive to next. I have about ten minutes of extra time, so I stop at the office on the way to use the bathroom and check my mailbox.

10:00 Done with my second client. I head toward my next appointment at 10:30, but make a bathroom stop at the grocery store. (This is rare. Usually I just stop at the office, or sometimes at home.)

11:30 Done with my third client, and I have time to stop at the park for lunch before my last client of the day.

12:00 See my last client.

1:00 Done for the day, and home by 1:15! Often I have office work or phone calls to take care of, and end up working from home for a while after my appointments. Today I didn't have work to do, so I had plenty of time.

I got a lot done in the afternoon. I was able to start dinner and work outside in the yard and garden until it started thundering and raining. There is so much to do outside and I never have enough time.

Cut some flowers, and picked greens and my first tomatoes of the season.

4:00 I finished up with everything I was doing, cleaned up the kitchen, and went to pick up the little ones. They were busy playing, happy as clams.

when the cat's away

My first day at the new job was good. It looks like I will be filling a variety of roles, which will be nice.  It's interesting to be back in a professional environment, and I mean that in two ways. First, it makes me realize that my old job was not one. I was there for so long that I forgot what it's like to be in a place that's truly a professional environment. It's nice to be in a place where you are welcomed and valued as a professional, and where people are kind and courteous to each other. Second, it's just plain weird to get dressed up and go to work in the morning, and be there all day, and not see Celia and Henry. Weird. I like my new job a lot, but I would still rather stay home with them.

Celia is very excited about "going voting" today. When she asked if she could paddle, I realized that she thinks we'll be "boating". Ha! I tried to explain what voting is, and that it really won't be all that exciting. She definitely didn't understand. Then I had the family vote on what to have for dinner tonight and she kind of understood that.

I went to our parent conference for Celia's school last night. Her teacher had nothing but good things to say. Pita's a little shy with groups of kids, but she raises her hand and talks during class activities and has made friends. She has trouble with some fine motor activities because of her small size (like, she can't really use scissors because her hands are too small). She is advanced with her academics and will now be working on matching upper and lower case letters, and identifying numerals up to 30.

Today I'm hurriedly getting the house cleaned a little and getting lunches and everything else packed up for work and school tomorrow. It would be so much easier if we ate processed foods. I understand why so many people do, because it takes a lot of time to actually make and pack everything compared to grabbing something that's pre-packaged. But, it's my choice to do it this way. Just wish it was easier.

Henry is starting to do more new things. He has begun filling and dumping, likes to throw things and see what sound they make when they fall, and is imitating some new things. Today he imitated drinking from a cup, and kissing. He also pointed for the first time today! He pointed to pictures in a book, and to a couple other things. It's a good thing Henry has Tuesday mornings to be home without Celia, because when she's around he doesn't get to play with anything without her interfering or taking it away. So, while this cat was at school today...

Little Mouse got busy in the kitchen!

He had a great time getting into everything, banging things around, opening doors and making a mess.

Now his nap is over, he's nursing, and we will go run an errand and pick Celia up from school.

what's been happening, a little surprise

I'm still alive. (No, the surprise is not that I'm pregnant.)

The last two weeks have been chaotic. With the kids starting school and daycare there is so much to deal with. The good news about that is Henry likes daycare, and Celia likes school. Also, seeing Celia at school is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Celia had no school today because it was a holiday, but Henry still went to daycare for part of the day. So Celia and I had some nice time alone together. We played doctor a lot (she had just watched a Daniel Tiger episode about the doctor), made cookies, went outside, and took a shower (she thinks taking a shower with me is so fun, so this was an event).

I think I found an arrowhead! And if it isn't that, it's definitely something man-made.

Pita is still so into drawing. Every day she improves.

Little girls love wearing their Mommies' shoes. I remember trying on all the shoes in my mom's closet when I was a kid.

What else? I have discovered that when we're away from home and Henry sleeps in the pack 'n play, he sleeps all night from 7:30 to 5:30, eats, and goes back to sleep until 7:00. This is fantastic, but as soon as we get home he goes back to waking and crying during the night. The kid is holding out on us. I also think he likes the softness of the mattress and the small space of the pack 'n play, and the walls make it easy for him to find his binky during the night. I'm tempted to try having him sleep in it at home, just to see what happens.

The weather is becoming more fall-like. I love fall. I'm sort of dreading how much heating the house will cost now that we have to turn the heat back on, but also really looking forward to having our first fire of the season. So cozy and warm.

Speaking of fall, I would like nothing more than to curl up in front of the fireplace with some tea and read through the stack of magazines that have been collecting. There are some big things going on right now, and when I'm not with the kids I'm busy doing other stuff. My only reading time lately is a chapter or two of my book before bed at night.

Okay, I've been holding out on you all. The big news? I quit my job last Monday! Hallelujah! It is such a relief not to be in a hostile work environment anymore, but I do need to find another job so I'm under pressure and not exactly relaxed right now. There are some new things I'd like to do, but I have to have some steady income while pursuing them initially, so it's a little tricky. I don't really have it figured out yet, but I do have a couple interviews about to be scheduled so that's good. More on all this in another post. I haven't blogged in so long because I was busy making all these big decisions and then processing them. It's been quite a time.

To end on a lighter note... Henry loves riding in his stroller. He likes just sitting in it and getting pushed around the house. If he sees the stroller, he crawls to it at breakneck speed and wants to get in. Tonight Chris was playing race car with the kids while I cleaned up after dinner. You will hear Henry vocalizing in response to Chris's car noises. He was making his own race car sounds!

preschool orientation

Things are pretty crazy around these parts, which is why I haven't been blogging at all. I hope that when (if) my weekly schedule is ever finalized, and I get used to packing everything up for me and both kids for work and school days, things will be easier.

I thought that once school started, there would be no choice for the administrators I'm involved with to quickly resolve the issues with my position. I was wrong. It seems to be worked out that I will be back at the preschool now, where I was before I was wrongly transferred last year. There is still no resolution about my work schedule, so for now I have to work five mornings a week (ask me how I'm going to do this whydon'tcha? I don't have daycare on two of those days...) until it is worked out somehow. Since we're supposed to start seeing students this week, I don't know how that's going to work. On top of all that, there are administrators who have said and done things to me that are illegal, and that is being dealt with too. I'm still not going to go into detail on the blog, but I will say that I am very thankful to belong to a union, and that the union president and HR director are behind me on all this.

Moving on to happier things, Celia's first day of preschool is tomorrow! Henry will have his first day of daycare, too. Today we went for preschool orientation. Celia had been in the classroom before, so she was comfortable going right in. There was some work for the kids to do, decorating their sign-in folders and mats they'll use for circle time.

Celia was a little shy and didn't talk much, but she talked to her teacher a little and met a nice little girl to play with. I'm not sure if they said one word to each other, but they played dress up and a few other things together.

When we left, Celia told me she loved preschool and couldn't wait for tomorrow. Unfortunately she started getting a little nervous tonight and told both Chris and I she didn't want to go. Hopefully it will go okay tomorrow morning.

Each month Pita will get a calendar with a little activity to do each day (easy things, like walk like a penguin, write your age, practice drawing circles...). She has to color in the day when she's completed it, and when it's all done she gets to pick a prize at school. Kind of a neat idea.

After orientation, we headed home and got ready for lunch. Henry Boy crawls all around the house now. I have to keep a very close eye on him because he really likes to get himself in trouble :). It's cute to see him crawling all around while I'm working in the kitchen. He has started trying to climb or pull up on anything and everything, which gets kind of dangerous.

Henry went down for his nap, and Celia and I played with her snack shop and then made cookies. She really hates making cookies.

Later in the afternoon we went out to print a family picture for Pita to bring to school tomorrow, and then went home and played, and got ready for the kids' baths. Chris came home early, which was pretty nice. We had dinner, and Celia played in my bedroom while I took a shower. When I looked into the bedroom, I found her lying on the bed with a baby bottle, with my shoes removed from the closet and lined up by the bed. You never know what you'll find with this one...

Clothes are set out, lunch boxes prepped, breakfast planned for, backpacks and bags ready. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything. I am exhausted. Time for bed.

hopeful

We're having a nice day. First of all, yesterday I had an interview that went really well and I think the job could be a great fit for me. Hopefully they will make an offer at the end of the week. I know they liked me and am just hoping the other people they interview are terrible! That would be a big weight off my shoulders.

Today is definitely one of the most beautiful days of the summer. It's warm, sunny and dry, and so nice to be outside. Henry and I took Celia to play at daycare for a while, and then we went home for Henry to have breakfast and a nap.

I got a few things done during nap time, and then Henry and I went outside for a bit before picking up Celia.

Celia is done with her naps, which is a bit tough some days but she has been doing pretty well. I try to get her to at least play in her room for a while, but today that didn't happen. When Henry had his nap, Pita and I made cookies, and then she "washed" the dishes and played while I got on the computer for a while.

I'm also skimming through the Bachelorette finale I still haven't watched. :)

Time to go now because Henry has gotten up and has a dirty diaper, and I'm pretty sure Celia is in the bathroom pooping. Ha! Such an exciting life I have.

my new gig

No, the new gig does not involve the new guy yet, though I did think I was going into labor on Sunday night. It was a false alarm, but something was definitely going on. I had all the signs that I was in early labor, but maybe my body was just getting ready for it and then stopped. The baby has now dropped noticeably lower, though. It also gave us a good practice run for when labor does happen. When Chris saw that I was cueing up some Hypnobirthing tracks to listen to, he got a deer-in-the-headlights kind of expression on his face and started packing a hospital bag for himself- ha! Anyway, I started to feel better before bedtime and then overnight things slowed down and I wasn't in labor after all. I was glad we didn't call our families to come all the way for nothing.

On Monday morning I still wasn't feeling too hot when I got to work. I decided to spend the afternoon getting all my paperwork done, just in case I didn't end up coming back. When I received an email midday that reminded me why I never wanted to return to that job, I thought: You know what? I only have a day and a half left before maternity leave was scheduled to begin anyway. Screw this. I'm out. So last night I sent a few emails arranging for my leave to begin right away, rather than finishing out the week. And so begins my new gig as a stay-at-home mom! Yikes. What am I getting myself into?

I'll tell you what I'm getting into. Apparently somebody thinks my new job allows for lots of time to empty sinks full of dishes in the mornings.

This morning it was really warm and nice outside. Celia and I ran an errand and stopped at a park to play a little, and then we met Chris for lunch. It was time for her nap when we got home, and she must have been really tired after our busy morning because after reading just one book she said she wanted to go upstairs. Note to self: Keep the kid busy in the mornings!

I decided to start decorating for Christmas today. I'm nesting and literally can. not. stop cleaning the house, picking up clutter, and cooking things for the freezer. Because clearly I cannot bring a baby into the world when my kitchen cabinets haven't been wiped down five times. With Thanksgiving drawing nearer and the baby not born, I figured I might as well go for it with the Christmas stuff. I don't think I'll feel like decorating much in the days after the baby is born. During Pita's nap I got some decorations out and put them up. Also, when you're putting out new decorations and moving things around you end up wiping things down and dusting too- it's a crazy pregnant lady's dream, really.

And finally, Celia forgot her white stuffed kitty when she slept over at Chris's parents house. She was without it for a couple days and definitely missed it because she's pretty attached. We told her White Kitty was having a little vacation and she was okay with that, but she kept asking when the kitty would be back. Today we had a special FedEx delivery, and here was Pita's reaction when she opened the package.

our weekend

Celia and I drove up to NH on Thursday afternoon. We went out to eat with my friend Abby who lives in Japan and has been home for a short time. She brought her little girl too, and she and Celia were really cute together. I tried to get a good picture of them, but it's nearly impossible to get a one and a two-year-old to take a good picture together! Celia has been very busy playing here for a couple days, and we'll head home this afternoon. I fully expect that Chris has finished painting the baby's room in our absence ;).

The best part of the weekend was when I met with HR on Thursday to plan my maternity leave. It turns out that because I'm part time and maternity leaves are technically calculated by number of days rather than weeks off, I can easily take off the whole rest of the school year from Thanksgiving on. It's crazy! So, needless to say I'm taking advantage of that. I sent an email yesterday announcing that I would not be returning for the rest of the year once my leave started. Didn't get any responses... I'm sure administrators were thrilled. That's what they get for involuntarily transferring a pregnant lady into a miserable new job :D. So, the next two months may not be much fun at work but at least I know I'm done after that. It will also give us plenty of time to figure out what I'll do for the next school year.

Time to get the car packed up for the drive home.  

29 week appointment and more

I saw my midwife yesterday and everything was good. I still measure a week behind, which is still normal. I gained three pounds in the last two weeks, which I wasn't so excited about. I really hope it doesn't continue at that rate or I'll end up gaining a lot! We heard the little guy's heartbeat and he kicked the midwife a couple times, as usual.

On my way home I stopped and got some decorative things for my office. I've decided that unless my new job gets even worse, which I'm not sure it can, I will stick it out until maternity leave. All I can do is try my best, do what I'm able to do given basically no resources, and leave the stress at work when I leave. However, remaining in a bad situation for the long term is not something I'm willing to do... Hopefully it will improve, and I think it will once I can get past the scheduling and caseload nightmares and actually start seeing kids and getting into a routine. The only long term problem would be that the new school's hours don't work for our family schedule.

On a completely unrelated note Celia "decorated" herself with stickers last night, then decorated me, and then we had to play doctor :)

Also unrelated, we had our wood stove installed in the fireplace yesterday! In fact, it's cold and rainy tonight so we're going to try it out. I can't wait to sit in the chair in front of the fire all winter. I also put Celia in fleecy kitty pajamas tonight- first time this season in warm pajamas. They are pretty darn cute.

Off to finish figuring out my third alternate schedule for work, and then to bed...

stuff (my brain is fried- this is the best title i've got...)

I've really been absent from the blog lately, haven't I? The school year hasn't started off well. I've been transferred to a new school, have had to fight for basic resources I need to do my job, and have a workload that's more than double what I've had in the past. It's literally impossible for me to cover all the cases I've been given. I can't even come close. Some of the people I have to deal with are rude and manipulative, and I'm starting to see a lot of bad things about the politics of where I work. And on top of all that, I was transferred involuntarily and without warning so I'm mourning the loss of a job that I really, really loved. I thought I would spend my entire career there...

It's at a point where I hate my job and the stress could be unhealthy, being 7 1/2 months pregnant. I started reading articles about stress and pregnancy, and let's just say that made me even more stressed... It's really unhealthy and can have lasting effects on the baby. 

We are considering having me leave my job, stay at home with the kids, and start my own practice. Which would be a very new and scary thing, but it might be the best option.

Anyway, today I was ready for a long weekend break to begin. Celia and I had a very nice, relaxing day. I was able to mostly stay away from work-related things, but did spend her nap time on work. This morning we went to the doctor and Pita had her flu vaccine. Other than that, we stayed home and played all day.

I brought home a big box of things from work that I won't need anymore. Pita has been having a lot of fun playing with toys and games she hasn't seen before. It really is nice for her to have new things every so often. She's kept herself busy for a few days playing with everything.

After the doctor this morning, she played with her trains and Little People and pretended they were going to the doctor.

She also pretended she was Little Pink Riding Hood.

And speaking of that, from the time she woke up this morning Celia kept telling me she wanted to make some goodies for her sick grandmother. Haha! Late this afternoon we were going to play outside but she brought it up again, so we stayed in and made pumpkin pie brownies for dessert. It was the first time she really helped me and participated in everything without just making it more difficult. She's so cute because she wants to taste every ingredient when I'm cooking. Some things don't taste so good (baking powder? yuck!), but I let her try anything she wants. It's a good experience for her and the last thing I want to do is discourage her from trying new things. Today she liked coconut oil and pumpkin puree :). Lots of fun.

As challenging as staying at home would be, I have to ask myself why on earth I would choose to spend my time doing something that makes me miserable when I have this little person (soon to be two little people) I could spend time with instead...

Looking forward to a long, long weekend for sure!

miscellany tuesday

Welp, the miscellany is a little late this week thanks to Hurricane Irene. Our power, internet, phone, everything went out early Sunday morning and we just got it back! Boy did it feel good to take a shower for the first time in four days. Nice to be back to normal. 

1) I'm 28 weeks pregnant! This is getting serious. There's actually someone in there for sure. On Friday night my belly was jumping all over the place and Celia thought it was hilarious. Sometimes she asks me if her brother's awake and if I say yes she'll come put her hand on my belly :). It has occurred to me that the third trimester is not the best time to be returning to work. At least it means I'll only be back for a few months at the most. In my dreams, I go out for maternity leave and never return. More on that another time...

2) Speaking of all that, Monday was my first day back at work. I will be in a new building, in an office that's empty, with no phone or computer, with no teaching materials because I wasn't given funding to buy any, and no clue how to work with this new caseload or how I'll even be able to see that many kids. Doing my job should be nothing but pure joy this year. Again, more on that another time...

3) Fall is my favorite season of the year, so at least I have going for me. I may have already started burning my autumn candle and considered decorating the mantle for fall.

4) The threat of a hurricane isn't nearly as exciting when you have a house and land to take care of. If we had still been in our condo? No big deal. But now we have trees that could come down, wetland that could be flooded, windows that could break and a house that could be damaged. Kinda takes the fun out of it.

5) On Friday and Saturday we had to get ready for Irene. Nothing too crazy, but we had to get all our outdoor stuff inside, prepare for the electricity to go out, gas up the cars, get extra water... But everyone else was doing the same thing and it was kind of crazy trying to find what we needed and get all ready.

6) Celia is really into making "houses" now. She loves doing this with the couch cushions in the living room.

7) I was upstairs and Celia came up with her outdoor chalk. Sometimes she says something so funny that I immediately write it all down. Here is the actual transcription of what happened.

"These are my powers. They look like chalk, huh? But they're not. They're powers. I'll show you how I light them. I line them up like this. I'll be right back, okay? Don't touch them while I'm gone. They're dangerous. They're very difficult and you could get a boo boo. So don't touch them okay? I'll be right back."

Um, okay Pita...

8) That was an eventful day. I was in the kitchen and thought she was just in the living room playing, but I heard strange noises so I went to check on her. She had moved all her Childcraft books onto the stairs, and was climbing over slippery piles of them, on the stairs! I almost had a heart attack. She thought it was the best idea she'd ever had and pretty much had a fit when I told her it wasn't a good idea.

That's about all. I'll be working on somehow getting back into the idea of working outside of home again this week...

springtime crazies

What a day!

It started bright and early, as I spent ten minutes getting a student with behavior problems from the parking lot to his classroom. His situation is so sad. I could write forever about the poor little guy. I'm worried to send him on to kindergarten next year without me being there. Good times. At least I got a good workout getting him down the hall...

Fast forward about a half hour. While waiting for the elevator with another student, the student tells me about how Daddy was choking her, Mommy told him to stop, and then Mommy and Daddy were fighting in the bathroom and Daddy broke "the thing with the flowers on it". Fantastic.

Skip over another couple of ridiculous events (oh they were ridiculous alright. I'll spare you the long and boring details) to after work. Chris had school tonight, so he wasn't coming home. I made a quick stop at Trader Joe's on the way home, put everything away, and just before I left to get Celia I got a couple messages from work that I had to deal with right away. The student involved in the alleged choking incident? Oh yeah, I have a meeting for her tomorrow and the meeting requires an interpreter. The interpreter had to cancel. This is the third time the meeting has been canceled. She very nicely set me up with another interpreter, whose name is Celia. I'm taking that as a good sign... I'm so ready to be done with this meeting!

On top of all that, spring is the time of year when parents go nuts. They suddenly have all kinds of demands they've never expressed before. They realize that their kids won't have therapy over summer vacation, or that their kids are going to kindergarten. They can't understand why it isn't possible for their kids to make a year's worth of progress in the three months before school ends. Spring is not a happy time for these people. I'm telling you, it's crazy. I don't think they ever get to enjoy their kids because they're so obsessed with what's wrong with them. I wish they would snap out of it and see their kids for the wonderful little people they are, and just love and enjoy them. They're missing out. (This isn't all parents, mind you. Most are wonderful. The handful of crazy ones just really stick out!)

Coming home today, there were two things I looked forward to seeing that would erase the work day from my mind.

Spring is coming! Time for the gardening gloves to assume their prominent position by the door.

And of course, my little Pita!

(To be honest? Though she's all smiles in these pictures, the rest of dinner was a disaster. Food throwing, whining, minimal eating. Sometimes I swear she turns into a feral animal.)

Celia's in bed and I'm about to have a snack and read my book. Early to bed tonight, I hope!

disadvantaged children

I've worked with young children for more than ten years. Most of that time has been spent working with kids who have so much more than developmental disabilities working against them. I've worked in inner city Boston neighborhoods where shootings would happen down the street while I was inside a child's home. Where kids couldn't go out to play and apartments were kept shut up tight and dark, with curtains drawn. Putrid, grime-caked and roach infested high rise public housing projects where kids don't have any toys. Or beds, or any other furniture. Or food. Just filthy empty rooms. I've called the gas company when a family's heat was turned off. I've seen corrupt landlords rob their tenants of social services by claiming them as family members living at their address, to get more income for themselves. It's hard to imagine what these places are like (and to believe they're really that bad) unless you've seen them with your own eyes. In my current job I spend much of my time working with children who live in poverty. And most of those families are working poor. They're not lounging around all day collecting welfare checks and feasting off food stamps. In most cases that's a complete myth. Some of these kids come from loving families who do the best they can for their children. The best they can do is not always great, but those kids are happy and loved, and it shows. I've also worked with students who were homeless, or had drug addicted mothers, or abusive fathers. I've worked with 4-year-olds who needed counseling.

No 4-year-old should ever need counseling. 

Now that I'm a mother, my view of my job has changed. I still give speech therapy. In many cases that's all I have to do because the kids are well cared for otherwise. But in other cases, there are so many things that need to take precedence. Am I really going to sit a child down to teach vocabulary words that mean nothing to him (because his life experience is so limited) when his basic needs aren't met?

Now that I'm a mother I'm much more concerned about when a child's last bath took place, or why so many of my students show up at school, halfway through the day, with morning breath. Yesterday, one of my students' hands were absolutely caked with filth- days' worth. It was not only disgusting and unhealthy, but made me wonder: when was the last time someone really looked at this little boy? He didn't need speech therapy. He needed someone to give him a warm bath, and a laugh, and a good snuggle. He needs that every night, and if he had it he probably wouldn't be in my office in the first place. How can I help him at school when his basic needs aren't met at home?

Now that I'm a mother, I give my own child all the advantages she could possibly have. I teach her every day, just by exposing her to a rich variety of experiences. She always has nice toys to play with that are just at her level. She already has a wealth of knowledge and experience that my students at work may never catch up to. But. The most important things I give her are a warm bath, a laugh, and a good snuggle. A day doesn't go by when I don't lavish attention on every last bit of her. She is happy, and safe, and loved. That's what's most important.

Some of my students have so much against them that speech therapy doesn't even come close to fixing what's wrong. Maybe I'm shirking my job responsibilities a bit when I forgo grammar exercises to learn more about what's happening at home for a child. Or when I say that I'd much rather see that child smile, or laugh, or think of me as an adult he trusts and looks up to, than see him use a four word sentence. Or when I spend half of a speech therapy session in the bathroom teaching a child how to wash his hands. Again.

Now that I'm a mother, I worry so much more about what goes on in my students' homes when I'm not watching. Because I can't even fathom not taking care of Celia's basic needs. I can't bear to think about how neglected she would be if we didn't talk to her, read to her, constantly hug and kiss her, give her a bath every night, comb her hair and dress her in clean clothes every morning. I know how important those things are now. How they must make her feel so secure. How do my students feel?

This isn't the happiest thing I've written, but seeing all these kids after a summer at home (in another world) with Celia has really struck me. More than anything, these little people need to be taken care of. I don't doubt that they are loved in some way. But knowing that caring for Celia's basic needs is the most important thing in my life, it is so sad that some parents (for many reasons) don't do that for their kids. I could write a lot about the factors that play into this. A whole series of posts describing the never ending cycle these people are caught up in. Maybe another time. Celia just woke up and I have a tiny little monkey in footie pajamas to snuggle with. The best thing ever.

Oy. Maybe I should change careers and become a social worker. Actually, I've considered that many times...

stuff

Such a creative post title, eh? Perhaps I'm a bit brain dead after a busy couple of days. We are back into our school year routine now. Things haven't quite gotten into the swing of things at work yet. There are some changes (ahem, employee transferred to our school who refuses to perform tasks that are described in her actual job title, making it impossible for the rest of the staff to do our jobs) that are causing things to be a bit off kilter. I stupidly checked my email at 9:30 last night only to find a message that stressed me out, causing me trouble sleeping and a painful muscle knot/spasm in my back that I still haven't gotten rid of. Hopefully I will not need a trip to the doctor for muscle relaxers! This has happened before. But enough of that! I don't have to think about work again until Monday.

I've also been busy snuggling with this little critter. She's so pretty.

Celia has seemed like such a big girl lately. Yesterday when she pooped, she went in her diaper but yelled "Poop! Potty!" and ran to sit on the potty to go. She's so independent at daycare, running all over the yard, going down the little slide all by herself, and talking to the other kids. She definitely isn't shy there. She has a big personality despite her petite size. Yesterday I was told that Celia had to have her nap in the crib instead of on a mat, because during nap time she wouldn't stop talking. Apparently she kept getting up, throwing a toy on a boy who was trying to go to sleep, and then running away laughing! Oh dear.

The curly lashes! The chubby cheeks!! Be still, my heart!

I've gotten a lot done at home in the last 24 hours. Two five mile runs, some cleaning, laundry, gardening, and cooking. I've been meaning to make a couple of things to freeze, so last night I made a big pot (six dinners worth!) of pasta e fagioli and today I made up my own stuffed pepper recipe and froze four stuffed peppers. Inside them: brown rice, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, italian seasoning, onion, and a flax egg. I didn't bother to cook the peppers at all before stuffing them (usually I put them in boiling water for just a few minutes), but hopefully they'll turn out well. I've felt so-so about my runs this week. I've been feeling tired and my legs feel as if they're not recovered from my long run. Maybe resting tomorrow, wearing my compression socks, drinking more and trying to eat extra healthy will help.

Now we're all caught up!